


Dead Universe

by Polyhexian



Series: Humanformers: The Music AU [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, F/F, Humanformers, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26570611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian
Summary: Tailgate goes for a night out.
Series: Humanformers: The Music AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859230
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Dead Universe

Tailgate shifted forward in her desk, chewing idly on her pen. The professor droned on and on about The Punic Wars while drawing a diagram on the white board, but his hand writing sucked and she was having trouble keeping up. Had she really found this stuff so interesting?

From where she sat in the back of the class, her clear lack of interest wasn't terrifically distracting to others, she hoped. She was auditing this class, so she didn't have a grade to ruin, but she knew other people did.

Far more interesting than her droning history professor was the woman sitting in the front row by the wall. Tall and broad shouldered with cheekbones that could cut through butter, she had such an amusingly serious, focused expression for someone wearing full Cybergoth gear. She came to class like that every day, which Tailgate found fascinating. Purple and black hair falls, laced and pinned corset, knee high boots, piercings through her ears, nose, dimples, black painted nails and full face of pristine makeup, every day without fail. That took dedication, but despite her eccentric dress, she never acted out for attention and rarely spoke. Tailgate found herself staring at her during her history class more than she did her professor. 

She was pretty sure her name was Cyclonus.

* * *

Tailgate stepped inside her apartment with a sigh as she locked the door behind her and turned on the light. She frowned looking down the unfamiliar hall sadly, before she set down her keys on the table by the door and dropped her coat on the loveseat in the one room flat.

The room was quiet, empty, a bed against the wall, a laptop, a tv, a tiny kitchenette. A lonely little world. She flopped down on her bed and laced her fingers behind her head, staring at the ceiling. After a moment she opened her phone and scrolled through her music, frowning at artists like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, The Chainsmokers… she didn't understand her collection of music anymore and it only made her feel worse. She gave up and guiltily scrolled down to the Swedish House Mafia song she'd downloaded a few days prior and let it play, closing her eyes and sinking into the music as it surrounded her like water.

She wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed when her phone rang and she blinked her eyes open, rolling over to pick it up and look at the caller ID before she answered.

"Hey, Swerve, what's up?"

"You coming by tonight?" Swerve asked. Behind his voice, Tailgate could hear the din of the bar, glasses clinking and patrons laughing.

"Mm, I dunno," Tailgate sighed, "I'm feeling a little bit down today."

"In that case you should definitely come by, then! Come see people. Stop moping alone in your apartment."

"I suppose."

"I booked a band tonight," Swerve told her, "They do that techno stuff you're into now."

Tailgate smiled fondly. "Okay, I'll come by." 

"Good," Swerve told her, sounding relieved, "I'll see you soon. Do you want me to tell the boys to throw a pizza in for you?"

"You know me too well," Tailgate laughed.

"Better than you know yourself," Swerve chuckled ruefully. Tailgate hung up and dropped her arm over her eyes with a sigh, before she rolled back out of bed and stood up, stretching. She fidgeted anxiously for a moment, before she crossed the room to her closet and opened it, pulling out the rainbow tutu she had bought at Spencer's the previous week. She hadn't worn it yet, but she'd wanted to. 

Tailgate shut the closet door and looked at herself in the mirror on the back of it. Short, chubby, dark skinned and dark eyed with plush lips and short hair, she wore bland, neutral clothes that she was hardly proud of, khakis and a collared shirt. She turned, admiring her new accessory, and trying to consolidate the image in the mirror with her understanding of her 'self.' That _was_ her in the mirror. It was. 

She chewed her lip, debating on taking the skirt off, before she shook her head firmly and grabbed her phone and keys by the door before she headed out to grab the metro.

* * *

Swerve's was busy, but Swerve's was always busy. Tailgate beelined right for the bar and clambered up onto a stool, leaning forward against the counter. 

"There you are!" said Swerve, beaming as he turned around and slammed a colourful drink in front of her, "I was starting to worry you were going to bail on me."

"I said I was coming," she told him, leaning forward on one hand and kicking her legs under her seat, "I have to keep my promises at least."

"Listen, so there's this girl here already I think you might like, and-"

"Swerve!"

"Shh, shh, listen, it's _fine_ ," he shooshed her immediately, "She's _cute_ , trust me, you'll like her!" 

"Swerve, I dunno, I don't-" 

"Just a second, I'll be right back!"

The tiny bartender ran off and Tailgate looked down at her drink with a grimace. She was having trouble warming up to alcohol, but she took a sip anyway, and decided it was alright. She looked up again as another woman approached her, short, thin, olive skinned with black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. She sat down on the stool next to her and smiled.

"Hi," she laughed, "I'm so sorry, I'm Glyph, the bartender _insists_ I come and tell you you're pretty."

Tailgate rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah, uh, he's my cousin. He's getting a bit tired of me being single. He's a bit of a meddler."

"Oh, no," Glyph chuckled sympathetically, "A meddling cousin that owns a gay bar. I'm so sorry."

"Oh, it's alright, he means well," Tailgate shrugged, "I suppose I'm flattered, in any case. Oh! I'm so sorry, I'm Tailgate."

"It's nice to meet you, Tailgate," Glyph smiled, "Well, I have to say- he's right about one thing." She leaned forward with a mischievous grin, "You _are_ pretty."

Tailgate blushed. "Thank you," she said gratefully, "So are you."

"So what do you do, Tailgate?" Glyph inquired.

"I'm a kickboxer," Tailgate told her, swirling her drink and watching the ice mix with the yellow-green liquid, "You know, tournaments and such. I've done a few tv spots, nothing terrifically impressive, but still pretty cool, I think."

"Wow!" Glyph exclaimed, "That is cool! Gosh, I'm awful at sports. I specialize in latin. Translating a lot of terrifically boring old books, mostly."

"Wow," said Tailgate, "You must be brilliant, then!"

Glyph blushed. "Oh, I don't know about that. So… what do you do in your free time, then? I know it seems antithetical, but I like to stream on twitch sometimes, speedrunning games."

"Oh, what kind of games?" Tailgate inquired, "I don't… I suppose I don't really have any hobbies."

Glyph blinked at that. "Oh, you know, mostly the popular stuff. The Last of Us, Super Mario 3D World, the new Tomb Raider. Stuff like that. I get more viewers for Mario, but I like Tomb Raider more."

Tailgate stared at her drink. She didn't know any of those games. "Mm," she hummed, "I like music a lot. Techno, house, EDM. Things like that."

Glyph seemed to notice her sudden change in demeanor and shifted, tilting her head to the side, "I'm more of a folk music person." 

"Glyph!" a voice called, and both Tailgate and Glyph looked up as a man jogged up to them, rippling muscles beneath a tight green shirt, "Hey, I'm so sorry, I actually have to take off."

"Ah," Glyph sighed and turned back to Tailgate, "Cosmos is my ride. Maybe I'll see you later, Tailgate."

"I'll be around," Tailgate smiled, as Cosmos and Glyph left, before she turned back to her drink with a sigh.

"You did a terrible job," Swerve tutted, throwing a pizza in front of her on a plate.

"I don't need a girlfriend, Swerve," Tailgate reminded him, grabbing her dinner.

"You need some friends, at least! God. Kickboxer? Really?"

"Who would you be," Tailgate murmured, "If you didn't know who you were?"

Swerve frowned sympathetically. "Well, anyway. Trust me, you'll like the band. It's a lesbian band and they do a sort of metal-house thing. Lots of keyboard and screaming. You'll love it."

"Thank you, Swerve," Tailgate sighed, biting into the pizza. 

Tailgate finished her meal in peace, before she heard cheering and turned around, leaning back against the bar as Swerve ran up onto the main stage. 

"Good evening, queens, fiends, and in-betweens!" Swerve cheered, grabbing the microphone, "It is my supreme pleasure to introduce you all this evening to _Dead Universe!_ "

Tailgate watched in rapt attention as Swerve scuttled away and the band emerged from backstage, a group of fully decked out Cybergoth women, the tallest being the vocalist who grabbed the mic as her bandmates fell into place on their instruments. Tailgate's first thought was shock, recognition of the singer as the woman from her history class in community college, but in a moment all thoughts were gone.

Cyclonus started _singing_. 

Singing, screaming perhaps, in a show that took Tailgate's breath away, full of glitter and lights, dance pop screaming and a passion she thought she'd never seen in her life, a passion she craved like food or air, a passion she'd never felt until this moment. 

In that moment, Tailgate made up her mind that she was going to befriend Cyclonus by any means necessary. 


End file.
